


Meta - Some thoughts on Felicity

by Caiti (Caitriona_3)



Series: Caitriona Opines on Fandom [5]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Gen, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-14
Updated: 2014-12-14
Packaged: 2018-03-01 11:57:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2772140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caitriona_3/pseuds/Caiti
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Felicity Meghan Smoak now competes with Darcy Lewis as my overall favorite female character.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meta - Some thoughts on Felicity

**Author's Note:**

> So...I got started on this because of some things that kept cropping up on my dash and it exploded on me. 
> 
> Please note: If you ship Oliver/Laurel or are a huge fan of Laurel, you will probably not care for a section of this. Please do not comment based on that - I'm pretty upfront with my opinion. Contrary-wise - Do not comment with Laurel hate either. I will delete either type of comment. 
> 
> There's not much Olicity discussed here as this grew monstrous on me without it. I may do a meta on that soon. We'll see.

Felicity Meghan Smoak now competes with Darcy Lewis as my overall favorite female character. 

Much like Darcy, Felicity brings a nuance, a breath of life to the fandom that nobody could have expected. She should have been, and was meant to be, a bit player, a footnote in Arrow. Now it is hard to imagine the show without her presence. I tried to put into words my opinions and belief on what makes Felicity tick and why she is who she is. Some of what you see below might be familiar to you if you follow me on Tumblr, but that previous blog referred to my head canon for a role-play. This is my opinion on the character herself – a lot crosses over, but hopefully there will be a new outlook you haven’t read from me.

As background, let me explain my involvement with the Arrow fandom. When it comes to Arrow, I have to confess that I am a prodigal returned to the fold. I was intrigued when the first trailers began to show up for the premiere and decided to give it a go. The premise struck me as interesting and the flashbacks didn’t throw me off as much as they could have, though that can be attributed to enjoying Highlander – another story for another time. The show didn’t quite gel for me though. I can’t point to something and say ‘this bothered me’ or ‘that didn’t work’ – it just didn’t lock me in. I can say that part of it hinged on relationships. I am being on relationships – family, friendships, romantic ones, etc. Take Sleepy Hollow for example – another great show with the occasional flashback – the relationship between Ichabod Crane and Abbie Mills locked this show for me from day one. Once Upon a Time pulled it off with Emma and Henry; Haven with Audrey, Nathan, and Duke, and so on and so forth. I’m pretty sure you follow me – for a show to hold my attention, I need relationships I can invest in. 

Arrow didn’t do it for me.

I couldn’t connect with the relationships…couldn’t invest in them. 

After a few episodes…I quit.

Fast forward almost two years – I didn’t remember names, the story, or the show for the most part. Then I happened upon a crossover between the MCU and Arrow focusing on Darcy and Felicity – and I grew intrigued. I began to read more fanfic in the Arrow fandom. (Honestly, I have found my way into or back to more fandoms via fanfiction and fanart than I could begin to reiterate here. Bless each and every one of you who give of your time and talent to create these fanworks. You do more than you know.) The interactions between Oliver, Felicity, and Diggle depicted by these writers sucked me in – I love team and family fics and this team grabbed me. The second season just ended and I decided to try watching the show again. This time I wouldn’t have to wait out the whole season and could watch several episodes in a row. Given my interest in the team, I doggedly hung on through more episodes than before and by episode twelve…I was hooked. I can’t tell you how fast I burned through the first two seasons before going back to slowly watch and really enjoy some favorite episodes – including The Odyssey, Dodger, Sacrifice, Three Ghosts, Heir to the Demon, and more.

The relationship between the main three gave me the investment I needed in this fandom. I love all three of them on screen together, and I think Roy gives the team another boost. Oliver is central, of course, thus the name of the show, but he would not be who he is without the others. He may be the man with the mission, but they have chosen to follow him in that. Oliver made the Hood – the others had to become a part of his crusade for him to become the Arrow. To me, Dig plays the role of big brother – to the team, yes, but more importantly, he plays it for Oliver. Oliver needed someone who would both support him in his work to make things better, but also someone who would call him on his bull. Dig gives such a wonderful steadiness to the team. Roy brings a different feel to the family – he is rough and uncut, but he gives Oliver someone to mentor. As far as Oliver has come with Dig and Felicity, he finds a reason to reach further with Roy because he has to teach…regardless of any other relationship between the two (particularly Oliver’s disapproval of the Roy/Thea relationship), Oliver as teacher will not want Roy making the same mistakes he did. 

Then there is Felicity. By the end of The Undertaking, I became a full-fledged Oliver/Felicity shipper. The chemistry between the two clicked for me in a way that no other relationship managed to do. 

In the interest of full disclosure – I like Katie Cassidy. I can like Laurel Lance, though that is an on-again/off-again kind of situation. I don’t support the Oliver/Laurel ship at all. Don’t get me wrong – Laurel got screwed in the lead up to this show. Having your boyfriend cheat on you is bad enough – having him cheat on you with your own sister? That is all kinds of bad…I can’t even count the levels of bad in this. Then to lose both boyfriend and sister before she could confront them and move on? No, Laurel had every right, **every** right to be pissed. That being said – I’m not a fan of the character overall. I don’t feel any chemistry between Oliver and Laurel, and to be perfectly frank? In my opinion, that ship sailed and sank right alongside the Gambit – to me, Laurel is Oliver’s ‘might have been’. She is the woman who might have completed him, made him into a better person if his five years of hell never happened. He could have taught her to live a little, to enjoy spontaneity, while she could have grounded him, taught him that maturity didn’t mean the end of everything fun. Life happened – and five years later, Oliver doesn’t need her to help him mature and he certainly doesn’t need grounding. Oliver now needs someone to help him remember how to find joy in life, to let go and fly once in a while. Laurel isn’t that woman. I’m not sure I can spell out my opinion any better than another fan has done. In her Tumblr blog, jbuffyangel puts it this way:

“If cheating with her sister didn’t sink the ship for you; if betraying Tommy didn’t sink the ship for you; if Baby Mama didn’t sink the ship for you; if Oliver sleeping with Sara again didn’t sink the ship for you; if Oliver telling Laurel he was done running after her didn’t sink the ship for you; if Felicity harnessing Oliver’s light didn’t sink the ship for you; if Oliver choosing the city over Laurel didn’t sink the ship for you; if Oliver saying Slade took the wrong woman didn’t sink the ship for you; if Oliver deciding Felicity is the person he loves the most didn’t sink the ship for you; if Oliver deciding that a life as Oliver Queen means a life with Felicity didn’t sink the ship for you; if Oliver being completely devoted in his love for Felicity even though he’s not with her (something he never did with Laurel) didn’t sink the ship for you; then Oliver not saying goodbye to Laurel should really SINK THE SHIP FOR YOU. And if that doesn’t? If you are STILL holding on to Lauriver? Then look at Oliver’s last thoughts. They were of Felicity. What’s more, in that precious 12 hour period not a single thought, not his first or his last or any in between, were ever about Laurel. Not. Even. One.” See the full article - Here

Back to Felicity – Felicity is no stranger to trauma, though she can’t begin to touch what Oliver or Sara went through. We don’t have a lot on her background, but what we do have doesn’t show a soft, cushy life. Her father abandoned her when she was young and this set up a good deal of Felicity’s outlook on life – she’s afraid of losing more people the way she did her father. Not losing them through death, though that is certainly there, but because they leave her. On the flipside, that type of abandonment creates a part of the mind that expects to be left behind, to not be considered good enough or worthy enough for someone to stay. Felicity is exceedingly confident in her strengths, but her weaknesses undermine her in ways others may not see until it is almost too late. Donna Smoak, Felicity’s mother, did her best for her little girl, but the two of them don’t have much in common, and Donna knows that. She never saw much of herself, if anything, in Felicity – she saw the man who abandoned both of them. (Ray’s question about adoption underlines the differences between them.) Felicity loves her mother, but the two of them never quite connect and this only gets exacerbated as Felicity continues to grow into a technical computer genius. None of this makes for deep roots and strong foundations, though she does acknowledge gaining strength and determination from her mother. 

Then comes what we know or can speculate about school. If Felicity is anything like other genius level intellects – and considering everything we know about what she’s capable of certainly points to a genius-level intellect – then she would have had a difficult time in public school. Most public schools are not kind to those who stand out, particularly the brains. Until and unless someone needs help to pass a test or a class, the smart ones are generally denigrated as ‘nerds’ or ‘geeks’ and not usually in a positive sort of way. If Felicity’s school was the same way, then she would have been on the outskirts of the social scene, not really a part of it except how it intersected with class. University, on the other hand, would allow her to spread her wings. It would not have the same insular, judgmental nature of high school. Here she could form a group of friends who wouldn’t be influenced by the popular crowd. (It’s the nice thing about most universities – there are too many people for any group to be **the** popular crowd.)

This group included the first love of her life, Cooper Seldon. The two of them, along with Cooper’s roommate Myron Forest created a ‘super virus’ with noble intentions, but Cooper tried to use it in wiping out student loans. Felicity stopped him. That didn’t prevent him from being arrested – and then he chose to take the full blame for the program. He was the one who went too far, but Felicity created it…and he covered for her. He didn’t turn on her or turn her in or turn state’s evidence or plea bargain – he stood by her. Unlike her father, he didn’t abandon her, and this helped solidify some of her self-worth, starting to repair a hurt done long ago…starting, but not completely healing it. 

Then Cooper committed suicide, hanging himself before sentencing.

This one act tears at the healing he had started. He gave up on life…and in a way he gave up on her. It is another abandonment, but Felicity is older, wiser, stronger than she was when her father left. Her father’s abandonment gave her a drive to move beyond her beginnings; Cooper’s leads her to reinvent herself. Felicity doesn’t give up – she is not going to be weak. Now, instead of being the counter-cultural activist, she will work within the system to make things better. In a lot of ways, Felicity looks into the darkest part of herself during her hacktivist time and the imprisonment/suicide of Cooper – and she refuses to give in. Instead of letting in the darkness, she is determined to find a way to be part of the light. Abandoned, misunderstood, lonely, and a loner – all of this combines to create the foundation of who Felicity is now – _by choice_. She still has the fear of abandonment, of being left behind, but she will not let it hold her back from making a place for herself.

And she makes that place – first at Queen Consolidated and then as Oliver’s partner in his vigilante work.

We see her change and grow even stronger through the show. She not only is strong – she learns that she is strong. From the first episode when she gives Oliver a wonderful ‘you are so full of shit’ look to the most recent scene of her watching him walk away to face Ra’s al Ghul – we see her character grow and become integral to the team and to the other characters. Her weaknesses and fears are still there, but in many ways she has moved beyond them to a point where she can survive – even if her worst fears are realized. She’s not perfect – she never was and never will be. If she were perfect, we wouldn’t like her so much because she would no longer be human. 

On that note, let me finish with something that’s been bugging me a bit lately. You can ignore this part entirely as I’ve covered most of what I wanted to say about Felicity herself. This is more…to get it off my chest.

I’ve seen a lot of people hoping Felicity will become this hero or that – hope she becomes a warrior like Sara or chooses to use a weapon (and they do love the thought of her learning archery) – and I just have to wonder…why? Why should she do that?

For the record, I don’t think she should.

As we’ve seen with Laurel and Thea, anyone willing to put in the time can become a kick-ass fighter – but I seriously hope they don’t do this with Felicity. Felicity’s value to the team can’t be measured, and it has nothing to do with the ability to physically take down an opponent. **_Now, I have no issue with her learning self-defense – I’m all for her learning how to get herself out of a predicament._** That’s common sense – especially since she works with heroes and tends to hang around billionaires. This doesn’t mean she needs to don a mask and start patrolling the streets. The team needs Felicity just the way she is, and no one with an ounce of sense questions her place on the team – except her from time to time, but see above for her weaknesses. The show has had and will continue to have female fighters on both sides of the good-evil line – Helena, Sara, Laurel, Nyssa, Lyla, Thea, etc. Felicity does not need to become one of them. She needs to stay her own unique, wonderful self – a kickass woman who doesn’t need to kick ass.

Felicity is a genius, a world-class hacker. She’s beautiful, smart, and filled with flaws – both serious and cute. She can be the epitome of adorkable when she gets going. People tend to either adore or hate Felicity – she challenges people, she stands up to them – she leaves a lasting impression, good or bad. Where in all of this does she need to be an archer, a fighter, a warrior?

Not all women need to be warriors to be heroes!

We need women like Felicity. We need women who pull their teams out of trouble with well-placed words and supreme computer skills. We need women like Caitlyn Snow who are centered in science. To pull a great quote from Tumblr (Lori Summers, madlori): “Screw writing 'strong' women. Write interesting women. Write well-rounded women. Write complicated women. Write a woman who kicks a**, write a woman who cowers in a corner. Write a woman who's desperate for a husband. Write a woman who doesn't need a man. Write women who cry, women who rant, women who are shy, women who don't take no sh*t, women who need validation and women who don't care what anybody thinks. THEY ARE ALL OKAY, and all those things could exist in THE SAME WOMAN. Women shouldn’t be valued because we are strong, or kick-ass, but because we are people. So don’t focus on writing characters who are strong. Write characters who are people.” I would like to add to this that strength does not depend on a woman being the Canary or Wonder Woman or the Black Widow or Melinda May or Peggy Carter. It does not depend on a woman being a crack shot – with either a bullet or an arrow. We need women who take on the mantle of hero without ever putting on a mask or picking up a weapon.

We need women like Felicity, Caitlyn, Darcy, Jane, Jemma – women who don’t need to kick ass in order to be kickass.


End file.
